Political Wire points to an AP article reminding us that Bloomberg isn’t a blemish-free candidate:
Before his election as mayor in 2001, Bloomberg was the target of a sexual harassment suit by a female executive who accused him of making repeated raunchy sexual comments[...]
I can’t help but think that if we seek perfect, wise saints as our political leaders, we’re going to be repeatedly, sorely disappointed.
I don’t mean to discount how vile harassment is, but we have had adequate political leaders before who have been guilty of some pretty despicable things, and many more who have been accused (rightly or wrongly) of certain vileness. However, usually they have been able executives and politicians in spite of those lapses.
Consider, for example, Bill Clinton, around whom several scandals swirled, who was guilty of cheating on his wife with a political intern, and who didn’t exactly provide the best answer to the world when questioned about whether he sampled of the ganja in college. Yet, many Americans seem to have found him a tolerable President…even if they wouldn’t be willing to allow their daughters alone in a room with him.
I’d hope that if Bloomberg runs, he’d address this bit of personal history appropriately and hopefully deflate it from being too much of an issue. I’d hope that Americans can respect a guy who admits his mistakes and has learned from them, particularly after living with an administration that seems to live in denial with its belief that it is incapable of making mistakes.